Robinson on Robinson

Robinson said he should have had catcher Brian Schneider activated from the disabled list on Thursday and start the game instead of LeCroy. Schneider is not eligible to come off the disabled list until Friday, and he had no choice but to start LeCroy. Wiki Gonzalez, who has a better arm, was unavailable because he was injured and Robert Fick, at the time, had not played a game behind the plate. It ended up being the worst game in LeCroy's big-league career. -Bill Ladson

The Nats beat the Astros 8 to 5, their 5th win in 6 tries, and Robinson spoke somberly to the press after the game, with tears in his eyes. The win was overshadowed by Robinson's move during the Astros half of the 7th inning to replace Matthew LeCroy at catcher after the Astros stole their 7th base of the afternoon.

After the press conference reporters talked and wrote about how sorry Robinson was to remove LeCroy, and how professional LeCroy was about it. They miss a fine detail. Robinson, the warrior, was sorry that he had started LeCroy, that he had put him in position to fail, that he had not quietly removed him between innings a little earlier. The damage was done before Robinson decided to make the switch. Robinson was apologizing for the damage done while LeCroy struggled out there. A player can handle being taken out of a game. But being put in a position to accumulate errors and hurt the team-- that's real embarrassment. That's the more serious embarrassment, the one Robinson didn't intend.

Oh yeah. Tony Armas, Jr. The other Nationals starter. The one I failed to name a couple of weeks ago. Five wins in a row.

Livan won his last time out and he goes again tomorrow. Armas with 5 in a row. Five starters on the DL now, sure, but Patterson will be back in a couple of weeks. Mike O'Connor looks good. Ramon Ortiz won his last time out. What's this? A big league staff coming together?